I was called in to assist with the 3D Design and 3D Modeling in the building of a virtual prop for a film Matt Hartle at Big Sky Laboratories was doing the VFX on, back in 2015. The concept was to build an exterior set to match the interior principal photography as well as a the entrance that was a practical prop as well.

I was given a simple layout and a few reference shots, and off I went. I built it out in stage and blocked the octagonal shape to match the interior sets first. Once approved I added a large amount of detailing all over the prop.

This was build all quads as a Sub-D model[ subdivision mesh] as I work in 3DSmax, and my client works in Maya so I exported as both a FBX, as well as an OBJ as a base mesh, with stills rendered out in Ambient for surface testing only.

I ended up building more than was used in the film, which is typical. They simplified it for the film and removed an entire wing I built.

A fun film with a surprise screen credit for me, when I screen captured it this week as it is currently on Amazon Prime.

If you need a bid for a model and or a design for one, contact me for a quote.

Monday, September 11, 2017

Upon graduation from Art Center I immediately started doing Set Design for Television Commercials back in 1992 out of Hollywood, CA. I have always had a love for Architecture both Interior and Exterior Design, so getting to jump into this right out of College was a great area to hone these skills.

I eventually moved into working on some Restaurant Designs, and with a background as a cabinet builder this assisted me with designing functional interiors which was also a part of the design curriculum at Art Center when you a part of the Industrial Design[ ID] program, called Environmental Design.

I eventually started doing Theme Park design as a Show Designer, this furthered my contact with great Architects and Designers building themed entertainment venues. I worked on both interior and exteriors in this field.

During the Dot.Com boom in late 1999, I moved over to create virtual architecture for the Launch.com Launch City full design revision, this allowed me to fully use the past experience to create virtual environments to green-screen in live band performances for the DR CD ROM Magazine industry, though short lived as that industry was.

As I moved into Theatrical Entertainment doing Key Art for Movie Posters, this virtual set work continues to this day to be a large part of what I do on a regular basis. I will typically recreate a set piece from a film at a very specific angle for a one sheet, and this allows the client to have a pre-masked smart 3D asset, with total control for editing after the photo shoot is done. Also a virtual set is never taken down, so I can re-access it and adjust for new renders in the future[ Like a Home entertainment Key Art package after the film leaves theaters].

Tuesday, September 5, 2017

What is the difference between a 3D Artist and a 3D Conceptual Designer?

First off there is no hard-line difference per say, however there are big differences between these two titles. I myself, have worked as both and each position is a little different.

The title of 3D Artist usually is an artist who works in a 3D computer program to create dimensional work in CAD or one of the various 3D Software packages [ 3ds Max, Maya , C4D, Sketch Up,etc]. 3D Artists are primarily trained in the 3D Program or programs of choice , and work in a variety of industries to build out, light, texture, and animate their creation they have built. 3D is a dimensional world rather than a flat world like Photoshop and Illustrator tend to be. It is also not required as a 3D Artist to be trained as a 2D or 3D sketch artist, though many do this.

A Conceptual Designer is a trained designer that works on concept art, usually for the film and game industry. The first Conceptual Designer, or Concept Artist I met was back in 1986, Syd Mead. Syd did all the futuristic designs for films such as 2001, Blade Runner and Tron. His path took him through Industrial Design [ ID], and I followed this path myself. ID trained concept artists understand how things are made, and usually are builders in the real world on some level, and this real world training translates directly in the way they do 3D.

Once I saw Syd's work at a presentation in college, and more importantly, heard him describe his work back in Michigan in the Winter of 86'. I knew this was my path, so I transferred to Art Center in Pasadena to complete my training as an Industrial Designer with a plan to do Entertainment Design that last semester in Detroit.

A 3D Conceptual Designer is someone who is double trained in both of these disciplines. And this training takes place both in school and on the job. I have worked as all three, starting my career with 2D Concept Art, and now I do a bit of all three roles depending on the clients needs, but primarily I do 3D now.

The big advantage to being double trained is that, first I am open to more work opportunities, and second the client themselves get a two for one, in that I can design and build my own creations for them, cutting out the most expensive part in the middle of translating a design from one person to another so it can be accurately built as a final product. With me you get both. Finally, as a designer myself I can read and translate other designers work very fast, so I can build other peoples work much quicker and closer to their original concepts.

So today I am posting this link to my Traditional Hand sketching and Marker Rendering work that I do that is the basis for my title of 3D Conceptual Designer.

As a Industrial Designer trained in Transportation Design[ Car Designer], there is a moment in our education that we make a connection between our clay models and sketching. After this connection is made you sketch much more realistic, and accurately as the end product is real and dimensional. This is what happens when I sketch now, I draw more accurately now that I do a majority 3D.

If you have a need for 2D Concept work I still break out the velum, so contact me for a bid.

Over the past 16 years I have rendered out well over 10,000 3D Logos. I have worked on hundreds of Key Art film campaigns as well as doing 3D logos for a variety of outside clients, from very small jobs of just 2 hours, to full re-branding for a variety in Corporate Advertising clients.

Most Agency's I work with do not have an in-house 3D Artist, so I get called in to to a 3D-Assist , and develop a 3D logo that they have already designed out in 2D in-house.

For some jobs, like X-Men 2, I did 212 3D Logos for our first presentation, this was one of the larger presentations. Most jobs I do a dozen or more, then refine them down to finals.

I take on jobs small to large, so I can do a 3D logo for a client on a tight budget and deadline for as little as $150,oo dollars.

Trained in Art CentersTransportation Design program I am skilled in advanced surfacing. Though most logos are flat extrusions with some sort of light bevel to an edge, I hand build many more complex logos, all as a subdivision [Quad] model so that the end product can be used in extreme close ups for my Motion Graphics clients that buy the 3D Model as well as the 3D Renderings.

I started out my career in Set Design fresh out of ACCD in 92',and have been doing Themed Entertainment projects ever since, so I was contacted by Marshall at Fee/Hedrick to develop a few projects for them,and this was the first, a 3D Virtual Set that would be used on a Video Wall behind a Stage Play Diner Theater in Pigeon Forge.

I was provided a concept sketch by the client that they wanted translated into a 3D Virtual Set, so I got direction as to the final look, and proceeded to block out the main elements.

Once we had a final look, I rendered out the image for the video wall at HD in layers with 3D Foreground, 3D Middle-Ground, and 3D Background. The 3D assets I created were then handed over to Dean Fowler to animate them for the projection on stage as well.

Virtual Sets like these are a fraction of the cost to create a real set piece, and the design can be dimentionalized if needed via 3D Printing or good old fashioned Set Construction.

Monday, August 14, 2017

Early on for Buzz Lightyear Planet Rescue, I created test sets to ensure that the 2D printed artwork would cover the monitors placed behind the flats. The red-lines were from the Architect to give scale for the 3D renders.

I did two full rounds of designs, starting with the look developed a decade back in Toy Story I with the Zorg-Bot, and a second pass that went to finish with a more contemporary 'stealth' flat edge look update developed by Scot Drake.

When I delivered the 3D assets I did Base Quad Subdivision renders along with smoothed ones, because I was responsible for the Advanced Surfacing and the rendering was done by the in-house 3D team.

Here is a screen grab for a final set piece that shows the monitor fitment as this is an interactive attraction, and the hardware needed to be fully hidden by the flats.

One of Christopher Lee's Transport design Bots, fleshed out in 3D. I also did a few texture tests early on like this one, as we were testing the Black Light throughout the project as I was there.

One of my favorite designs to build was the driller bot,and this was testing some weathering on the 3D Model of the Character I built in 3DS Max.

A Phase One Extractor Bot with Sub-D ON: This was based on the Round Zorg-Bot found in the original Film, expertly designed by Christopher Lee.

The base mesh with Sub-Division removed and mirrored to show front and back sculpting for in-house critique and adjustments.

A Final 3D Character Design of the Grinder-Bot used in the first set mock up seen at the top of the post.

Today I am posting my 3D Visual Development work I did at Walt Disney Imagineering back in 2011 for the Shanghai China theme part attraction, "Buzz Lightyear Planet Rescue", based upon the Pixar Toy Story property.

I was brought onto the team for about 8 months, to assist the Design Team in 3D development of the 3D Robots and 3D Characters for the attraction that they were developing a look. Scot Drake was the Creative Director for the project, and I worked directly with the Chief Show Designer Christopher Lee, both are very talented fellow ACCD Alumni.

The initial job consisted of developing 3D versions of the concepts that Christopher had come up with to populate the attraction. Final application would be high resolution prints in color that would be reactive to black light.

Today is PART I in a series on this work showing a sampling of the over 500 robots I built out for the attraction in 3D, that were used in the final product currently live in Shanghai.

Thursday, August 10, 2017

The end product for this 3D Service is the 3D Model itself, I do a surface render check for every one, thus ensuring that the subdivided Quad Sub-D Model is good to go when delivered. This is a typical test shot as delivered to the client.

Here is the base mesh with Subdivision removed to show the low poly base build I do. Subdivision Modeling allows for as much resolution as needed in the asset, yet provides a lighter base mesh for dial in of pre-lighting textures and animations.

This underside view shows the 3D Model build out of the legs with supports.

I have worked with Michael Golden for a few years on a project by project basis, assisting with sets of custom furniture for his incredible visualizations he does out in NYC. For me, to build out custom furniture for Architectural Visualizations in still format or a walk through is one of my favorite things to build in 3D, and Mid Century Modern is one of the styles I enjoy the most.

Today I have a really fun chair I got the pleasure of building out, that of a weaved wicker high-back Olaf Chair. As a prior furniture builder and a woodworker myself, I love virtual furniture building.

Having to build great iconic furnishings done in the past by great designers always builds up your own design abilities, since whenever you are forced to build another designers concepts you are challenged as a designer yourself. It takes you out of your own comfort zone, and allows you to see thru another designers eye, and sensibilities.

This will be followed by other pieces I have built out, as I have well over 100 custom furniture pieces for the Architectural Visualization work that Michael does at Three Marks.

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About Me

Trained in Transportation Design at Pasadena’s Art Center College of Design, I have worked for the past 24 years in every facet of Entertainment Design as Conceptual Designer, up to Design Director. I am currently running my design studio full time out of my home in Littleton, CO.
In the past, I have orchestrated teams as large as 100 on an international level , and as small as a few artists. Art Center gave me the formal training in Industrial Design via sketching and modeling to execute my designs.
The variety within the Entertainment Industry that I have been involved with includes: Television Commercial Set Design, 2D Animation Television Series, Restaurant Design and Illustration, Real Time 3D Interactive Gaming, Online 3D Web interface, CD ROM Magazine Design, Theme Park Attraction Design, and finally ending up in Entertainment based Advertising for Theatrical Films.
I have experience starting up both 2D, and 3D design departments, as well as moving into existing studio infrastructures of operation and working within established systems already in place.